Yoga Archives - Page 6 of 6 - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Bird of Paradise Yoga Pose To Conquer Overwhelm Thinking

Bird of Paradise yoga pose is a good metaphor for removing overwhelm thinking blocks through the pose. It’s like no other bird yoga pose because of the personal mindset growth component.

Learn how in this article 👇

In celebration of today’s #InternationalYogaDay and yoga daily, I thought it would be great to highlight my favorite exotic yoga pose, the Bird of Paradise yoga pose.

This is a good pose for mind-body balance.

The Bird of Paradise yoga pose stretches your arms, legs, buttocks, and shoulders while standing on your yoga mat.

If you’re injured somewhere between your head and toes, this is not one you want to try until you’re confidently healed…

I mention that because I recently was injured, and I couldn’t do the pose. I had a left foot injury where I often had to stand on my right foot without a crutch. I must’ve looked like a flamingo with my one leg propped up behind me resembling the number “4.” 🦩

With injuries, the last thing on your mind can be working out. After you start getting on the body healing path, you can get back, restore, and be determined to find ways to work out parts that work normally in case you need the strength, as I needed. A good way to ease back into physical activity is with light yoga poses.

One of these can be The Bird of Paradise yoga pose that helps build strength in your legs when you need to lean on them the most.

The Bird of Paradise also helps with your balance, especially when you need to rely on one side of your body over another. That’s why it’s good to maintain and build body strength as you never know when you will need the extra gusto — and flexibility and muscles in the right places come in handy (even if you’re a small framed person).

When all is running smoothly, there’s no better time than now to try the Bird of Paradise yoga pose, standing in place. You can do it where you are without a yoga mat.

The pose can sound more complicated than it is. And it’s as easy as it looks, but getting into the pose for the first time, if you’re a newbie, can take a few steps like twisting dough into a pretzel form.

To get in the Bird of Paradise yoga pose on one side, let’s say your right side first…these are the steps:

👣While bending down at your torso, you weave or wrap your right arm under the same side/right leg and then grab behind you, your left hand.

Then without letting go, stand up and lift your right leg straight up. Either let that right bent leg rest on the back of your right arm or aim it up into the air at a pointed 45-degree angle (if you can and wanna show off ;-).

I know it can sound like a game of Twister with yourself, but it’s simpler than the instructions are once you get the hang of it!…

You’re basically hiking that shoulder behind the same side leg — so it can be done in two simple steps. Your leg in the air is more like a front, dangling handbag strap. 👜

I’m not sure what you’re thinking about this pose at this point… hopefully inspired to attempt (and not scary)?

You can do it even if you may have never heard of this Bird of Paradise yoga pose.

If it’s new to you, yoga isn’t quite your thing!, or you’re not a regular yoga class attendee, no need to be intimidated. We all try and then before we know it, we’re doing!

I first learned of the pose when they would teach this one in Hatha yoga classes I attended, or maybe I was just lucky to get a lot of various poses in my classes. Whichever way you first run across this pose (...maybe now?), it’s worth a go…

Besides the stretch benefits, the reason I like the Bird of Paradise yoga pose is it’s a good exercise in not taking yourself too seriously.

…And take off anyway!

When you’re first starting out, you can overthink the pose and not fully get off the floor. Or, you can wobble or fall out of the pose somewhere in the process.

Here’s how you can bypass overthinking the pose… 🧘🏻‍♀️

You start off standing. Then bending over and taking one arm and threading the same side shoulder underneath the same side knee. Then stand straight up with the entire leg and arm in one fell swoop.

You probably got that part the first time, but where people get hung up (and I know I did in the beginning) is focusing on the arm and leg and how it would finally look instead of just looking straight ahead and trusting all the parts are where they need to be.

…So guess what can happen in overwhelm? Nothing. In my case, I stayed bent over on the ground.

Until I attempted again the next day without giving the pose much thought and looking up slightly, and straight ahead. From there it became easy, breezy, and smooth sailing, as I know it will for you. ⛵️

If you stay in intentional mindfulness, the success rate to bloom is high for your lovely Bird of Paradise. 🦩That’s a good positive booster!

If you think of yourself as the flowering bird of paradise plant in life, 🪷 then you can aspire to achieve this advanced pose more eloquently and efficiently.

Not that getting in any yoga pose faster is better, as the words “quick” and “yoga” don’t mix, but you can stay focused on the pose and bypass confusion as your mind and body think and act in synchrony. Whew… that’s pretty heavy stuff for a yoga pose!

I’ve done the pose in office workplaces wearing stretchy leggings and riding boots and I’m not any superwoman, so I’m sure if you want to, this can be a winner for you too! 😊

Just a few final notes and words of encouragement before I close out here…

If you’re on the computer most of the day, the Bird of Paradise yoga pose is a great shoulder opener. Without awareness, most of us have a habit of leaning forward and caving our bodies inward that isn’t great for our bodies.

Especially by our old age when we need support to balance our bowling ball-like weighted heads (and our shoulders are part of the main muscle group that helps with that cause).

So to counteract or correct bad habit postures, to undo them, bend them in the opposite direction from time to time. That’s a good overall rule of thumb for stretching practices.

And, keep challenging and amusing yourself and others around you with your standing poses like Bird of Paradise, Tree, and Dancer Poses (another favorite pose of mine so you can expect a future post on this one).

Yoga poses are a good reminder to lighten your load and light up your day.

If you are having seasonal internal-body symptoms that are preventing you from doing Bird of Paradise, be sure to check out the Body Balance Quiz to learn more about restoring imbalances.

5 Yoga Tree Pose Life Metaphors

yoga-tree-pose-metaphor with rainbow eucalytus tree

We can use a yoga Tree Pose today and these days as a reminder and metaphor for our lives, and the trees that have impacted our lives.

Firstly, what is so special about trees that have meaning in our lives?

The obvious being that trees are growing, living creatures just like us humans with unique features. We know trees are alive because they bloom, shed leaves, and pollen (not their greatest spring dominant feature).

Trees can grow from a mere seed that fits in your hand to a super strong tree you can climb (similar to a growing person from an egg to an adult).

The appearance and rings on a tree can show age, as our human bodies and features do the same thing.

When I was growing up, we purposefully remembered trees on National Arbor Day. Usually, the celebration included the installment of a new baby plant at school. The remembrance of the special day has been crowded out by other hashtag events but you can do your appreciation just by looking out the window at the trees near you, or by getting in a yoga Tree Pose.

These days, we celebrate yoga days more than we do trees it seems, but luckily there is a standing pose that represents trees in yoga. We can appreciate trees from a personal growth perspective.

Trees are a metaphor for our lives.

In Tree, remind yourself of these 5 areas:

1.Growth and direction. You can change your yoga Tree Pose at any point. You can lift your right bended-knee leg to rest on your left shin, or you can lift your right leg higher to form a number “4” formation with your right foot rested on your left thigh (looking like a flamingo).

You can take your wide arms and open them to the sky, have them go straight up parallel to your ears, or bring them to heart center with prayer hands.

Your tree can go in any direction of your choosing. As you balance one leg, you can build up strength and notice one leg is usually stronger than the other.

2.Grounded. You can feel grounded with your feet planted on the floor, like a tree with a stump firmly rooted in the earth. When you’re not sent from busy task to task, you can gain clarity about your life and deliberate actions you take. You’re not wishy-washy, tossed to and from. You’re steadfast and purposeful like a tree.

3.Learning. A tree is also a symbol of knowledge. From trees, we make paper that we can bind together to make books that expand our minds.

The more branches we develop, the more we can become useful to the world. Animals can use our tree and we can impact the community around us like moss growing on trees.

As you grow older, you can become wiser and stronger as you’ve experienced situations to increase your know-how.

4.Being alive! If you feel a sensation in any of your parts, you can take that as a positive sign you’re alive. Your automatic breath is no longer a gift you take for granted, if you become consciously aware of your inhale and exhale.

In yoga, we do a lot of breathwork. The inhale is often when we’re facing up or lifting up, and exhale when we’re grounding down. The breath is a little different than when lifting weights in a gym. So don’t get confused. And you can pause at anytime and do 4-7-8 breathing.

Trees and plants don’t get confused. They play a sustainable role for us by giving off carbon dioxide. Without them, we would not have a life in our ecosystem.

5.Uniqueness. The more you practice your various yoga Tree Pose styles, the better your tree can enliven yourself as you let your roots develop into hybrid trees. You can have properties like a flexible and resilient palm, a durable evergreen, or a hardy cactus. You could have overlapping properties in your versatility and personality. Continue reading “5 Yoga Tree Pose Life Metaphors”

Yoga Poses To Express Creativity and Restore Aches

yoga poses

Yoga poses are gradually are becoming creative yoga poses to help restore specific muscles, joints, and get balance in our day.

Evolving into creative yoga poses can be a powerful way to discover how to cure your own body aches and pains.

I didn’t particularly like yoga when I first started. It was intimidating and there was a learning curve to keep looking at specific body parts, making sure that it matched with what the yoga instructor was saying and doing.

Somehow I got myself to go back to class. And I started to learn and get into certain poses that became familiar. Child’s pose and other resting yoga poses were my respite in the beginning.

Gradually with added stamina and skill, I added new poses as my body helped to intuitively remember. The body cells have distinct memory.

Being at home means you still can do yoga poses at home or anywhere, even if you usually relied on attending in-person classes for form and instruction. If you didn’t learn yoga foundations, you can take the extra step and watch YouTube videos or take virtual classes.

Here’s a good way to begin:

Sit on your yoga mat or on a brick with your sit bones (the yoga language for your bottom), and stretch your legs out into a “V.” Reach down on each side of your legs to your feet, or as far down on your legs as you can. Continue reading “Yoga Poses To Express Creativity and Restore Aches”

Arm, Leg, and Butt Exercises Inspired by Physical Therapy and Yoga

If you’ve ever been to physical therapy, the approach to restorative body healing uses repetitive movements, such as core, arm, leg, and butt exercises. Like yoga, physical therapy exercises are healthy and help to increase your flexibility, strength, and balance.

When you’re not healing from an injury, your body is malleable and wants YOU to work out.

That’s our natural way, like horses and greyhound dogs that are born to race. If they’re not galloping and running, they’ve lost the opportunity to do what they’re happily born to do. We as humans, similarly are naturally meant to think, be and do.

When we take the opportunity to get active and move, we gain energy and better our health, and that makes us feel better.

If your body could speak, it would say, “put me to work.”But your mind shares back, “I don’t feel like it,”…and then that puts an end to your physical activity. Your mind wins and you actually lose in that moment.

But if you could convince your mind that exercise is easy, effortless… oh, and fun! …whoaa, that could be a game-changer, and your mind, body and you could all be on the same page.

I’ve found (and maybe you agree), that if you find an easy, almost effortless, and rewarding routine, then you would continue doing (like your lifelong healthy eating diet plan)…

Well, on that mission, I discovered some arm, leg, and butt exercises (described below), that give our overall delicate bodies, better results with little effort, that never gets old, and help you stay young and ageless.

Not to mention, the benefit of exercising without a gym. You can do these exercises when you just need a break (instead of opening the fridge for a snack or when you want to watch a few minutes of television).

If you do get to the gym… we love our gyms! then be sure to make use of the expensive and well-maintained machines. Continue reading “Arm, Leg, and Butt Exercises Inspired by Physical Therapy and Yoga”

Home Exercise Program Without Fancy Equipment

Home exercise program habits are a great way to get your exercise and healthy energy jolt in if you only have a few minutes.

Since the pandemic days, most of have tried or incorporated a video or home exercise routine. And for some this has stuck and is a regular plan over gyms or in-person fitness classes. And wherever you choose to exercise, your body will appreciate. You can check your minutes, stand, and move points. 🎯

you got this mat or a floor is all you need in your home exercise program.

A regular home exercise program is good for relieving anxiety and daily de-stressing if you need a motivator during low energy times. You don’t need equipment, just your body as weight.

You can even do simple exercises laying on your bed, a mat, or a floor. You don’t need equipment other than your body. That’s what yoga is.

You can do leg lifts and invisible bicycle movements while you’re watching shows. Those are low-intensity but they add up. And may keep you away from the couch potato moves that you’re trying to get away from.

Using just your body, you don’t have a clunky piece of equipment that’ll become a towel rack in months. Most of us have all done similar where we had a good exercise plan in mind and it didn’t pan out. Keeping things simple always pays off!

And implementing a simple home exercise program can be the change maker to your feeling happy, energetic, and successful today… in addition to being more fit.

Because if your mind is satisfied and feeling accomplished, then you feel happy. And feeling happy is all that matters over an activity you don’t enjoy and it feels like work. Amen!?

Plus we can learn from… the longest living people on the planet have discovered this magic in building in natural moves and exercise into their day.

Getting oxygen circulating to your brain also is the energy boost you need to get things going! And in that positive direction, exercise can motivate you to eat healthier and lighter that helps your gut. For some people, exercise is a good activity to do while fasting especially in the first few hours where you reap several benefits.

Today we know that most of our happy hormones are made in our gut so we want to keep our gut happy and healthy. Plus, there’s a gut-brain connection in the body-mind connection that affects our daily moods, outlook, and attitudes. 🌱

With our world back together, let’s keep up our steps. 👣

Easy home exercise program ideas needing no equipment:

Cardio exercise and high intensity interval training (HIIT) get the heart rate up that is one life-giving activity every human can use. We also improve our breathing and ability to control our breath longer.

Exercise examples include:

Burpees push-up and jump-up combos are a great way to ease tension from staying in cramped quarters. You can burn off pent-up Pitta anger or Vata anxiety you hold in seconds.

Plus, exercise helps the Kapha wake up and all of us sleep better.

If you want to stay indoors or have outdoor allergies, running (in place), and doing jumping jacks works too.

Online classes with yoga, barre, and pilates can keep you engaged and in a routine if you need more focused stimulation.

Most of us have taken a class or two this way that you can even find for free on YouTube channels like the Well+Good channel I subscribe to where you can get a balanced workout.

Here are some other home exercise program moves you can create for relieving anxiety and overall good physical fitness health:

House stair master substitute. If you live under a roof with stairs, run up and down the stairs several times. Then when you come down the, slowly walk down backward (recommended if you have carpeted stairs only so as not to slip).

If you live in a condo or apartment, opt to take the stairs instead of the elevator. And if you live in a one-story home, you can do repetitive leg lifts.

You can switch the mindset of parking closest to your destination. Park far away and avoid the potential car dings, get the shaded parking spots, and also get your exercise points in.

You can also practice mindfulness and get present with your body and how it feels in each muscle movement.

As we age we start to feel joints more and we lose muscle. And that’s all the more reason to keep up the exercise!

Natural steps stretch your hamstrings and other muscle parts of your legs and buttocks. Your gluteus maximus has the largest muscle group in your body, so focusing on these muscles will provide a high reward for your efforts.

Jump rope (or jumping jacks). Take a piece of rope and add a small weight to the bottom. Then start jumping rope. Do repetitions of forward and backward jumps for variety.

This (and hula hoops… remember those?) is great for tiring kids out with lots of energy. Of you can bounce a stress ball against the wall and play catch for stretching arms naturally.

…Jumping jacks are also a great way to get your blood circulating from head to toe. These are great to do especially if you’ve been sitting for a long time, and your legs or feet have fallen asleep.

Daily sit-ups. Do daily repetitions. Your stomach supports your back that you need for just about every movement.

If you have a longer torso, a better situp would be half crunches where you don’t go back down to the floor fully. You will still get the stomach benefits. And try to hold the crunch longer to reap more muscle benefit.

A variations is you lay flat on your back, raise your legs straight up to the ceiling and then lift up your torso and try to reach your hands to your ankles. That’ll hurt good!

Rest, and then continue and do as many reps as you can.

Lift dumbell weights or use milk gallons filled with water that have handles.

But before you do that move, add in a warm up routine. Yoga works well for this before you lift weights when muscles can be cold, tight, or contracted. Never skip the warmup part even for a home exercise program that you’re in charge of..

And one exercise that you probably haven’t counted…

Cleaning and straightening the house stretches your muscles and is exercise. When you’re cleaning, you’re actually doing yoga. You have to bend, stretch and squat to reach every nook and cranny in the house. Your cleaning poses are working smaller muscles. When you look at it that way, cleaning isn’t a chore and can be relaxing. 😊

That is a good segue into yoga that has great physical and mental health benefits, such as helping you calm, reducing anxiety, stress, tension, and depression.

If you don’t have a yoga mat, you can use beach or old towels (aren’t you glad you kept those?).

Start with deep breathing. For calming, I’ve modified my own yoga breathing technique. I found that inhaling deeply through your nose and exhaling long breaths through your mouth (for full air release from lungs) are most satisfying for releasing tension.

You instantly feel lighter.

But you can also stick with traditional yoga breaths through the nose.

Performing these breathing exercises increase the flow of oxygen, releases tension, slows the mind, improves concentration, and calms emotions.

When you’re ready to start your poses, keep in mind you can do your own modifications. Yoga poses should feel good for you, like a good stretch. Poses should not hurt. Everyone’s bodies are different so adjust the variation of the pose to your body.

Use: in any yoga pose, you can hurt yourself to be mindful and careful.

Test the waters on each pose without trying the maximum stretch on your first few sessions. Like the effects from any exercise in an exercise home program, you won’t know how the pose affected your body until a day or two later.

You can have a flexible torso, but a stiff neck or back. Everyone has a different range of motion.

We all need daily stretching and cardio to stay limber, healthy, and fit. The goals in yoga are flexibility, balance, and strength.

The best way to learn yoga poses is to see the pose and hear the pointers on what you don’t want to do.

From your home, you can watch and listen to videos on each pose to see the proper body alignment and learn about the intended goal of the pose.

Yoga Exercises For Your Home Exercise Program

Standing poses:

Sun Salutation poses — good for morning heart openers. We have a tendency to cave our bodies inward and look down. Sun salutation help to open the body.

Mountain poses (commonly referred to as tadasana) — aligns the spine and restores balance to the body and mind.

Start mountain pose standing with hands in a position like the prayer emoji where you’re praying at your heart center

Then raise your arms up towards the ceiling.

Fold the entire torso down towards the floor, and let arms hang down (in forwarding bend pose). Hands can rest on feet or as far down on your calves as you can.

Forward bend poses — helps back, spine, and back of hamstrings

Standing or sitting poses: Do Cactus Arms throughout the day to open your shoulders. Good especially if you hunch over a lot, are straining on the computer, or work in a kitchen or factory standing for long periods of time.

Yoga Floor poses:

Cat/Cow (knees and hands-on floor) — good back and spine stretch. Tabletop is the neutral position in between Cat and Cow poses.

Downward dog (feet and hands flat on the floor) — releases tension in the shoulders, hamstrings

Chair with hands in the air (feet on the floor) — energizes the body, strengthens the entire leg muscles and lower back

Sitting poses:

Spinal twist — helps the spine to rid of stiffness

Hero — keeps your knees flexible

Front on mat poses:

Cobra — expands the rib cage, chest, and abdomen

Bow — strengthens the back, opens the chest, tones the thigh and buttocks

Half locust — helps buttocks, back of thighs, posture; improves circulation

You could do a Plank pose (great for arms like push-ups) and then lower down into a Cobra, Baby Cobra, or Sphinx pose as a (Vinyasa) flow.

If you’re new to yoga, many yoga poses have animal, nature, or object names. Their pose names inspire peace, beauty, and purpose. For more inspiration, check out these 100 yoga poses.

Yoga can help keep intention focused on staying healthy and provide calm, gentle exercises for anxiety and stress reduction.

And to reward yourself in all your hard work and to cool down, how about a low-fat blueberry sherbet.

Low-Fat Blueberry Sherbet

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

frozen blueberries
almond milk
egg yolks
monk fruit sugar (low glycemic)
blueberry tea, brewed and cooled

Instructions

Beat egg yolks (use as many as you would like to thicken with)
Add a little sugar to emulsify
Blend in cooled blueberry tea and milk, and add blueberries. Tip: don't use too much liquid if you want a thicker sherbet.
Refrigerate
And add to ice cream machine if using one or use the freezer method (stirring every so often to prevent icicles from forming)